


Silent Death

by KTRose



Category: Broadchurch, Secret Diary of a Call Girl (TV)
Genre: F/M, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Teninch Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-29
Updated: 2015-11-29
Packaged: 2018-05-04 00:24:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5312708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KTRose/pseuds/KTRose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alec Hardy can't wait to take Hannah to the Doctor's to see their growing baby again</p><p>Written for the TimePetalsPrompt: There’s no way I’m letting you do this without me, not after what we’ve been through.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Silent Death

**Author's Note:**

> Please be warned that this story deals with a miscarried pregnancy. These stories are very painful to read and write but I believe that they need to be told. 
> 
> Silent Death is a term that has been used to describe miscarriage because no one talks about them. Mainly because the couples who suffer through them are encouraged to forget it ever happened and to move on to trying for another one. But anyone who has lived through one will tell you that the loss never goes away.
> 
> ** Runner Up in the 2015 TenInch Fic Awards for the Alec Hardy Short Category ** ... I'm very proud of this :)

There was a definite happy bounce in his step, he couldn’t deny it, and Alec Hardy didn’t want to. The Broadchurch community still shook its collective head in amazement at the changes that had come over their taciturn detective inspector. Hardy knew it was all because of Hannah, and the smile on his face widen as he thought about the reasons why he was rushing home in the middle of the day. Today was going to be a good day.

They had met when Belle has been found battered and unconscious in one of the rooms at the Traders. Hardy had initially just written it off as another sorry tale in the life of a hooker and didn’t think too much about it. But was surprised when an angry Belle had turned up in his office demanding he investigate further. It had turned out that she had been beaten to convince her not to go to the police about information one of her clients had been boasting about. Thanks to her statements and other evidence she had been able to lead them too, Hardy and Ellie were able to break up a major drugs and extortion ring that had been operating out of Weybridge.

A few months after the case had closed, Hardy had run into Hannah at his local coffee shop. They got to chatting about what had happened since they had last met and Hannah had let slip that she had moved to Broadchurch because she felt safer in a town where she knew the police were not crooked. Coffees had led to lunches and eventually dating, and a year ago they moved in together. They weren’t a perfect couple, each having their own emotional baggage to deal with, and of course the usual arguments that all couples experience, but they worked hard at supporting and loving each other.

It all changed three weeks ago. That was when Hannah found out she was pregnant and they had gone for the first ultrasound. Hardy could still vividly see in his mind’s eye, the tiny little pulsing speck that was their child. Because of Hannah’s work history the Obstetrician had booked in another ultrasound at 9 weeks, and today he was going to get to see more grainy black and white images. He had never been able to do this when Tess was pregnant with Daisy, and she had kept him at a distance anyway, saying that the Doctors made her feel violated enough without him hovering over her. Not this time, Hardy was going to make sure that he was involved and support Hannah every step of the way, even if it meant putting up with Ellie teasing him.

Hannah laughed at him as he dragged her into the clinic eager to see how much their baby had grown, but he knew how excited she was about this too. Now they were in the little darkened room watching the images on the monitor as the technician moved the ultrasound wand about. Hardy was looking for that beautiful pulsing again but could only see a black bubble in the sea of grainy grey on the screen, but before he could ask questions the technician left the room saying she needed to get the Obstetrician. Squeezing Hannah’s hand, he gave her an encouraging smile and tried to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach.

“I’m sorry Hannah and Alec but the fetus has stopped developing”, Hardy struggled to keep listening to what the Obstetrician was saying, noting that Hannah would need to be booked into the hospital for a curettage in the next couple of days. Hardy didn’t let go of Hannah’s hand as he drove them home, because it helped him to ward off the feeling of isolation, and knew that Hannah must be feeling it even worse then him. He didn’t go back to the station that afternoon, but wrapped Hannah up in his arms as they both cried over the loss of their baby until sleep finally took them.

It had been two days since the ultrasound and their fridge was bursting from all the lasagna that their friends had made for them. Hardy had been surprised by the number of men who had come and shared with him the stories of the miscarriages that they had experienced with their partners. It surprised him even more how much comfort he took from knowing that he and Hannah were not alone in this shared pain, this silent death. Now Hardy worried that he had not heard from Hannah about when the curettage had been scheduled. So he asked her directly about it and was astonished when Hannah had said that she didn’t want to bother him about it because he had taken enough time off work already. “There’s no way I’m letting you do this without me, not after what we’ve been through” he assured and pulled her into his arms, holding her tight while rocking her through more tears.

Hardy gave Hannah a last kiss on the forehead, as the Obstetrician advised him it would be a couple of hours before Hannah would wake up after the procedure was done. It stabbed at his heart to sit in the waiting room with all the family members eagerly awaiting news of babies being born, so Hardy stormed out of the hospital only to run into Ellie who had come to wait with him. They decided to take a walk along the cliffs and Ellie distracted him by talking about anything and everything that didn’t relate to what Hannah was going through right now.

Ellie left him back in the hospital room, and now he sat holding Hannah’s hand waiting for her to wake up. He had leaned forward to brush some stray hairs off her forehead when she finally started to wake. Her beautiful smile spread across her face at seeing him, but it almost immediately crumpled as tears slipped from her eyes and Hannah stuttered out how defective she felt. “No love you are not defective,” he said as he climbed into the bed and wrapped her in his arms again, “remember what the doctor said, it is a very common thing that happens, and what about Sullivan who said that he and his wife had five miscarriages before their daughter was born. We will get through this together love and maybe when the time is right we will try again.” He didn’t know when that would be and he wasn’t sure that this devastation wouldn’t happen again, but he knew that their lost child would always be in his heart.

**Author's Note:**

> In memory of Button, Peanut and Grover, you will always be in my heart.


End file.
